Elijawah Tolbert (1), who transferred to Missouri State this past winter, is returning to Eastern Illinois for the 2024 season. (Photo by Barry Bottino, PrairieStatePigskin.com)
By Dan Verdun
Eastern Illinois football welcomed back four of its biggest names for a Saturday fundraiser. There’s no doubt that Mike Shanahan, Sean Payton, Tony Romo and Jimmy Garoppolo represent past glory.
On Sunday, the present-day Panthers welcomed back an addition they thought had been subtracted.
Two-time, first-team all-conference linebacker Elijawah Tolbert, who entered the transfer portal after last season and enrolled at FCS Missouri State for the spring semester, announced he was returning to Charleston Sunday via social media.
“Entering the portal (originally), I got caught up in all the hype and the glitz and glamour of it,” Tolbert told Prairie State Pigskin.
Before entering the portal this spring, Tolbert talked to a number of people prior to his decision.
That list included Jason Johnson, a two-time FCS All-American linebacker at EIU in 2020 and 2021, who transferred to FBS Central Florida for his final two seasons. Johnson, a Chicago native, earned all-league honors in both the American Athletic Conference and the Big 12 Conference. He is now pursuing a pro career after signing as an NFL free agent with Dallas.
Returning was not a guarantee
Tolbert, a 2021 Hillcrest High School graduate, began to question if Missouri State was the right place for him.
“It was in God’s hands. During the middle of spring ball, I realized how good of a program EIU is,” Tolbert said. “It’s not always about what other programs have to offer. It’s about the culture.”
Yet, the Country Club Hills resident also knew that EIU head coach Chris Wilkerson might not take him back.
“I thought, ‘Dang, he’s not going to do it,’ but God put it in my heart and when I talked to Coach Wilk he saw how sincere and serious I was,” Tolbert said.
Wilkerson told Tolbert that the decision wasn’t his alone to make.
“I had to address the (team) captains and they trickled it down to the team,” Tolbert said. “It was a whole EIU decision. That’s what makes Coach Wilk so great.”
Tolbert was in attendance at EIU’s April 28 spring game and re-entered the transfer portal soon afterward.
“That was a real test, to see how everybody would respond to me being back. That was a deciding factor that played into it as well,” Tolbert said.
Wilkerson, however, did not make a decision “for at least two weeks afterward,” according to Tolbert.
The rationale behind the decision
Wilkerson, in his third year at his alma mater, explained his perspective.
“We continue to evolve during this unprecedented time in intercollegiate athletics. Our job as a coaching staff is to go out and find players every year regardless of the recruiting cycle, whether it’s the summer or the fall or the spring,” Wilkerson said. “You have to find that fit. Do they fit in the locker room? Do they fit in our culture? And then, do they fit in our systems? Do we think they have the ability to help us?
“As we went through this process and he became available, we were still trying to meet that need from his departure. There wasn’t going to be a much better fit.”
Wilkerson, last season’s Big South-OVC Coach of the Year, elaborated.
“Again he’s been in that locker room, he understands this system and this culture,” Wilkerson said. “It’s not the players’ fault. This system was created by the lawyers and the NCAA. The student-athletes are just playing in the system created by others. He had a goal to try to play at FBS Power 5 football that didn’t work out.”
Wilkerson also spoke of precedent.
“Initially when he went in (the portal), he and a couple of other guys reapproached me about coming back. I said, ‘Hey, you left and we’re trying to meet that need,’” the EIU head coach said. “But we didn’t meet that need. We were looking and all of the sudden he became available. It’s certainly not the first (time this has happened).
“(Quarterback) Jonah O’Brien was here, left and went to Colorado State and the previous staff (under Adam Cushing) recruited him back right before I got here. Bryson Broadway was a guy who played on the offensive line. He went in (the portal) and went to (FBS) Georgia State. He went back in (the portal) and we recruited him, but he didn’t choose to come back here. He ended up going to (FBS) Georgia Southern.”
Reunited and it feels so good
Tolbert, a senior with one year of eligibility remaining, started all 11 games for EIU last fall. He led the Panthers in tackles (87), ranking fourth in the conference.
Tolbert tied for second on the team with seven tackles for loss. He earned FCS National Defensive Player of the Week after EIU shut out regional rival Indiana State, 27-0, in the season opener. Tolbert recorded 11 tackles – seven solo – along with a forced fumble and interception in that win.
Tolbert’s return reunites him with Collin Geier, his linebackers coach a year ago who is now EIU’s defensive coordinator.
“We’ve gotten so close talking football and other things,” Tolbert said. “Before I left he shared his plan and his vision for me. No other coach had ever really done that.”
For his part, Geier sees even bigger things on the horizon for Tolbert and the Panther defense.
“There’s a commitment to try to chase greatness right now,” Geier said. “The senior leadership, the guys who have been here for four or five or six years, have done a phenomenal job of cultivating that culture and building to where we want to go. Now, it’s on them to do that throughout the summer and then push it into game one.”
Tolbert said that he is currently enrolled at EIU and taking summer classes.
“I do want to show my appreciation to the Missouri State coaching staff for taking me and showing me a different program with open arms,” Tolbert said. “There’s no bad blood between me and them. I realized that I made a mistake even entering the portal in the first place. . . . The grass isn’t always greener on the other side.”
Tolbert has played in 29 games with 21 starting assignments during his time at EIU. He has registered 117 tackles, 7.5 for loss.
“Our job is to give the guys the best chance to be successful and still continue to maintain the ‘We, not me’ culture,” and so we feel like this move (adding Tolbert) did both of those things,” Wilkerson said.
Dan Verdun is a co-founder of Prairie State Pigskin. He has written four books: NIU Huskies Football, EIU Panthers Football, ISU Redbirds Football and SIU Salukis Football.
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